ISLAMABAD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE th 5 Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex, Sir Aga Khan Road, F-5/1, Islamabad, Pakistan Tel: + 92 51 9211346-49; Fax + 92 51 9211350 Email:
[email protected]; Website: www.ipripak.org PRESS RELEASE Pakistan-Austria Roundtable on “Afghanistan and Regional Security” The current peace talks between the United States and Taliban need to be more transparent, inclusive and open. An intra-Afghan dialogue is more important and should be promoted in a way that the Afghan government does not feel excluded and Taliban are also a part of the process. Any solution for bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan needs to have the support of the Afghan people who have suffered more than anyone else in the decades of war and instability. These were some of the conclusions of the Pakistan-Austria Roundtable on “Afghanistan and Regional Stability” held at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, here in Islamabad today. The roundtable, moderated by Ambassador (R) Fauzia Nasreen included eminent diplomats who had served in Afghanistan, Austria and Saudi Arabia as well as academics and defence analysts. 1 Giving his welcome address, Ambassador Vice Admiral (R) Khan Hasham Bin Saddique said that since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the country has witnessed unprecedented violence which has considerably weakened the state and society. The instability in Afghanistan has remained a major source of concern for the international community, particularly Pakistan. “Pakistan endured the spillover of humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan into Pakistan’s western border regions, when we hosted around 5 million Afghan refugees during the 1980s and 1990s, and continue to host around 2.5 million Afghan refugees,” he said.